Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) was angry when he was injured. Now the team has to move on. / Sue Ogrocki AP

by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports

by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports

The Oklahoma City Thunder return home for Wednesday's Game 5 in their best-of-seven first-round NBA playoff series against the Houston Rockets with what is anything but a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Preparing for their first home game without injured point guard Russell Westbrook, the Thunder in this postseason are still adjusting to their new normal.

And they are fortunate to hold an advantage in the series against a young Rockets team that has challenged them in every game except the series opener. Without Westbrook, who has undergone surgery to repair a torn meniscus, nothing promises to be easy for the Thunder, the top seed in the Western Conference, even against the NBA's youngest team.

"What's the panic for?" Durant said after the 105-103 loss in Game 4. "No need to panic. That's only going to put more pressure on us. That's only going to make us feel even worse. Always stay positive, that is what I am about."

But there are ominous signs. In Game 4, Kevin Durant ‚?? 38 points on 16 field goal attempts ‚?? was at his most efficient. Houston's James Harden authored an uneven performance. The Rockets committed 22 turnovers and played without Jeremy Lin, who has been hampered by a chest contusion.

And the eighth-seeded Rockets still won.

In Game 3, the Thunder's first game without Westbrook, the Thunder needed every bounce of Durant's late-game three-pointer and perfect spin on an improbable Serge Ibaka reverse layup to beat the Rockets.

And now the Rockets are infused with confidence, believing their Game 4 victory was more than simply postponing the inevitable in a series that has been revived since the Thunder's 29-point victory in Game 1. They feel it was a game-changer.

"We think so, for sure," Rockets forward Chandler Parsons said. "We know we can play with these guys. We know we can beat these guys. We were in this situation the last two games ‚?¶ No one is giving us a chance. The pressure is on them."

The Rockets also take confidence in the fact they nearly beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City with Westbrook in the lineup. They rallied from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take a four-point lead in the final four minutes before fading down the stretch.

"We let both of those (Games 2 and 3) slip away," Harden said. "We have confidence going back to Oklahoma City. Anything can happen."

Westbrook has often been criticized as a turnover-prone, high-volume shooter who can't always keep his emotions in check. But the Thunder are finding out that his absence is felt in so many areas on the court.

Without Westbrook, the Thunder can't afford to be anything but a stellar defensive team. And they can't afford a third-quarter lapse like they had in Game 4, when they allowed 38 points and watched the Rockets make 11 of their first 13 field goal attempts in the quarter.

They also can't afford to turn the ball over 22 times (Durant had seven himself). The Rockets turned those turnovers into 31 points.

And Durant, whose talents are superior to anyone else on the court in the series, is still learning how to play without his fellow All-Star. Durant tied his career playoff high of 41 points in Game 3, but it took him 30 shots in 47 minutes to do so.

He was model of efficiency in Game 4, making 12 of 16 shots from the floor. And that's with the Rockets trying to make the other four players on the court beat them.

"I'll you what, that was a very efficient game by Kevin," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "We were trying to get the ball out of his hands and the guy had 38 points. It kind of frightens you, if we weren't trying so hard to get the ball out of his hands what he'd do. Hell of a game by him."

But even that effort was not enough to close out the series. And now Durant maintains an optimistic view on the team's hopes even as the picture of life without Westbrook in this postseason comes more into focus each day. And at least for now, it's not a pretty picture.

"That is what we have been fighting for all year, home-court advantage ‚?¶," Durant said. "You could not ask for a better situation."